Iraqis spend the first post-war winter fighting for the basic needs such as security, sufficient power and fuel, and jobs to make the ends meet. 

Such struggles often resulted in bloodshed as happened in Ammara, 400 km south of Baghdad on Saturday, when British soldiers and Iraqi police opened fire on demonstrators demanding jobs, killing at least six and injuring many others.

It ran counter to the dream of the Iraqi people of a prosperous, peaceful, democratic and pluralistic country after the US-led coalition toppled the 24-year-long rule of dictatorial Saddam Hussein.

Though US President George W. Bush repeatedly promises a better future for Iraq, the situation on the ground dashed the glimmer of hope.

Nine months after the dramatic ouster of Saddam, the occupation forces failed to restore law and order to the 25 million Iraqi people.

Electricity in Iraq is highly unstable. The power cuts in Baghdad reach up to 16 hours a day, and in some Iraqi cities they are more than 20 hours a day.

Fuel shortage has sent thousands of Iraqis to stand in long queues in front of filing stations for gas cylinders for heating and lighting in the absence of sufficient electric power.

"We were much better at the time of Saddam, because at least we had security," said Um Ahmed, an Iraqi middle-aged woman dressed in Arabic black cloak.

"Is this the now prosperous life the Americans brought to us?" She asked while queuing in front of al-Mansur filling station.

The price of a gas cylinder in the black market shot up from 500 Iraqi dinars last winter to 3,500 dinars (US$2) at present.

Oil-rich Iraq was witnessing a severe fuel shortage this winter.

According to official figures, Iraq consumes 16 million liters of benzine daily, but because of war damage and 13 years of UN sanctions, Iraq's capacity to produce benzine dropped to less than half of that quantity.

Naji Abbass, a 39-year-old taxi driver, said the price of high octane benzine jumped from 50 dinars in the black market before the war to 500 dinars (30 cents) at present for one liter.

"This forced us taxi drivers to charge our customers two or three times our pre-war prices," he added.

Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum blamed administrative corruption, smuggling and sabotage for the fuel crisis.

In a statement published in the independent daily Azzaman on Saturday, al-Uloum said: "We produced in November and December 6 million liters of benzine daily for Baghdad alone, while consumption did not exceed 5 million."

"Some of the fuel tankers did not reach the filling stations because they were smuggled in one way or another outside the country," the statement said.

Meanwhile, unemployment in Iraq almost doubled this winter compared with last one.

According to unofficial figures, the number of jobless in Iraq stands now at 6-8 million, exceeding 60 percent of the working power.

Abdul Rasool Hassan, a state employee believed that "most of the members of the organized crime gangs are from the jobless."

He blamed the absence of security to the lack of a strong central government and demobilization of the 400,000-strong Iraqi army by US top administrator for Iraq Paul Bremer.

Hassan, 44, who lives in Dawara district west of Baghdad, said "we can not find enough power to keep our kids warm in winter. Is this the new life we had been promised."

US officials stressed that life in Iraq is improving. They blamed the hardship on the guerillas who fight the coalition forces and sabotage oil pipelines and other infrastructure installations.

Abu Hasan, who keeps a bookshop in Rashid Street in downtown Baghdad, has a great confidence in a better future.

He said "we have to exert our best to restore law and orders, and speed up the transfer of power to Iraqis to build our country."

He expects next winter to be much better than this one as far as peace and security are concerned. 

(Xinhua News Agency January 17, 2004)